COVID-19 hospitalizations drop as Alberta reports 7 new deaths

Alberta Health officials reported 1,204 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Thursday including 80 in intensive care, as the province recorded seven more deaths from the illness.

Overall numbers for hospitalizations and intensive care were down from Wednesday's update when there were 1,231 in hospital and 84 in ICU.

Although the province often revises hospitalization numbers, as of Thursday's update the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 is down by 125 in a week.

Seven new deaths bring the province's pandemic total to 3,946.

Alberta reported 539 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. There are now 7,945 known active cases in the province, 219 fewer than Wednesday's update.

New and active case counts only include those who test positive on PCR tests, which most Albertans can't access. 

The new cases were detected through 2,846 tests with a positivity rate of 21.61 per cent — slightly higher than the seven-day average of 20.84 per cent.

As of Thursday's update, 86.1 per cent of those five and older in Alberta have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 80.8 per cent had had a second dose.

Of the entire provincial population, about 76.0 per cent have had two doses of a COVID vaccine, while 35.5 per cent have had three.